Authorities say they've arrested two suspected bank robbers after their getaway vehicle ran out of gas.

Daytona Beach police say 38-year-old Randall Fredric Walker went into the Riverside National Bank Tuesday afternoon and demanded money from a teller. After leaving the bank with the money, authorities say Walker jumped into a Jeep Cherokee driven by 35-year-old Jason Warren Dietrich. The two didn't get far before the vehicle ran out of gas.

This from the city of San Francisco a city populated with democrats. How about this for helping out "the little guy".

He sleeps under a bridge, washes in a public bathroom and was panhandling for booze money 11 months ago, but now Larry Moore is the best-dressed shoeshine man in the city. When he gets up from his cardboard mattress, he puts on a coat and tie. It's a reminder of how he has turned things around.

In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month's rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit.

"I had $573 ready to go," Moore said, who needs $600 for the rent. "This tore that up. But I've been homeless for six years. Another six weeks isn't going to kill me."

The bureaucrat told Moore that she found out about his business after reading about his success in this paper.

When I was a kid, I remember my mother saying "how is it that a kid can be interested in politics, pro wrestling and The National Enquirer?".

Over the years, I've learned that there really is no difference between any of them.

When I started dating Mrs. Gekko, she was almost apologetic that she didn't follow politics. I assured her the people who follow politics like to think of themselves as somehow "involved" or "care about the issues" or some other kind of blather but in reality, it's no different than gorging on a different type of reality show. In many respects, it's a bad rendition of Jon and Kate Plus Eight.

Think about....

Will the democrats take away Nancy's immunity for lying about her CIA briefings?

Will Pennsylvanian's vote Arlen Specter off the island for being, well, Arlen Specter?

Will The Supreme Court uphold Sotomayor's "you're fired" decision to those white fire fighters in Connecticut?

All the while, the world turns.

I'm really burnt out on politics right now. Probably the straw that broke the camel's back was the total lack of outrage when a 19 year old girl, her nine month old baby and a 3 year old child gets gunned down right in the heart of the city, an honorable military recruiter is targeted by a terrorist all while lots of national attention and adulation gets paid to a guy who slices and dices up babies for a living.

Are you kidding me?

California is on the precipice of a total financial collapse and cutting spending is not even an option for the government there.

Are you kidding me?

Our US government is witnessing the California collapse and what is their response? Print more money for us to spend?

Are you kidding me?

The government now owns a car company, a bunch of banks and insurance companies and not one media member has the balls to ask the question, "if this isn't socialism, what is?".

Are you kidding me?

It's probably the smelling salts I needed. See, whether democrats or republicans rule the world some things will never change........

Another 200 black males will be gunned down in our city's streets every weekend and no one will even roll their eyes at it.

Politicians will spend money like a prisoner eating his last meal and not one media member will question how you can continue that in perpetuity.

Nancy Pelosi will still have her job.

Midas will still like Coldplay.

The news crew at NBC will pack their knee pads in anticipation of an interview with The One.

No one will question the fact that democrats run all things in collapse.

The urban elite will still be pushing light rail systems through ghost towns.

Madonna will still be a slut.

Detroit will still be the armpit of Amercia.

Barack Obama will do everything like George Bush but, somehow, it's totally different.

The Cubs won't be in the World Series

Coldplay will still suck.

And conservatives will get up every morning to go to work and earn a buck.

So I'm taking a sabbatical from the blog for a while. How long? I don't know. Probably long enough to where I won't lose my lunch at the very sight of Harry Reid.

I may drop a joke or two or an article I like every once in a while, but I need a break from the commentary.

One benefit of the Obama Presidency is that it is validating much of George W. Bush's security agenda and foreign policy merely by dint of autobiographical rebranding. That was clear enough yesterday in Cairo, where President Obama advertised "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." But what he mostly offered were artfully repackaged versions of themes President Bush sounded with his freedom agenda. We mean that as a compliment, albeit with a couple of large caveats.

So there was Mr. Obama, noting that rights such as "freedom to live as you choose" and "the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed" were "not just American ideas, they are human rights." There he was insisting that "freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together," and citing Malaysia and Dubai as economic models for other Muslim countries while promising to host a summit on entrepreneurship.

There he was too, in Laura Bush-mode, talking about the need to expand opportunities for Muslim women, particularly in education. "I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles," he said. "But it should be their choice."

Mr. Obama also offered a robust defense of the war in Afghanistan, calling it "a war of necessity" and promising that "America's commitment will not weaken." That's an important note to sound when Mr. Obama's left flank and some Congressional Democrats are urging an exit strategy from that supposed quagmire. On Iraq, he acknowledged that "the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein" and pledged the U.S. to the "dual responsibility" of leaving Iraq while helping the country "forge a better future." The timeline he reiterated for U.S. withdrawal is the one Mr. Bush negotiated last year.

Last summer, I was at a local festival when a candidate for some judgeship came up to our group to solicit votes.

I asked her what party she was and she replied that the election was non-partisan (which I knew). I pressed her and she told me that she was a democrat. I then asked her why she was a democrat and she responded that she cared for the "little guy".

My biggest mistake was not confronting that assertion (mainly, because Mrs. Gekko gets a little annoyed with me when I talk politics in public).

But let's challenge this bull crap that democrats are champions for the little guys with this. Two days ago, I posted on the heinous crime that occurred in the city of Cincinnati, where a young woman was shot to death along with her nine month old child and a three year old she was babysitting.

Well, the police found the pile of excrement who committed the crime. I guess he was the "little guy" the future judge was talking about.

Here's the latest on this scumbag.........

A man described as a “person of interest” in the fatal shootings of a woman and two children early Tuesday will remain locked up.

Hamilton County Municipal Judge Julia Stautberg set bond this morning for Mark Pickens at $850,000 on charges of felonious assault and illegally having a weapon after a felony conviction, charges unrelated to the homicides.

The charges allege Pickens, 19, of the West End, repeatedly shot Anthony Jones in the chest on March 27, and that Pickens was not allowed by law to have gun.

“This was an ambush shooting in which the victim was shot multiple times,” Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Seth Tieger said.

So let me make sure I have this right. This clown has a felony conviction at the ripe old age of 19 and he's already back on the street shooting someone? Is this the "little guy" the judge was telling me about?

See, as a conservative, I consider myself champion of the "little guy". Why? Because instead of blowing money on civil servant pensions for employees who do nothing, I'm spending money on jails.

Instead of blowing money on perpetual homeless bums; I'm spending it on cops.

And instead of having sympathy for thugs, the thugs go to jail.

See, if this derelict were in jail, where he should have been, Noelle Washington and her child, the true "little guys", would be alive today.

Let's assume NCR was determined to leave. You at least allow negotiate with Ohio to sweeten your deal with Georgia.

Second, what exactly has the state of Ohio ever done for NCR?

Class?

Class?

See, this is the frustrating bitch I have with state and local politicians. They have no idea who their customer is. They live in a world where they believe their customers are the constituents who vote and kick money into their campaigns.

In reality, their customers are the entities who pay the tab for their spending.

Just how long would I be in business if I, as a tax preparer, operated as if the IRS were my client instead of the person actually paying the bill?

If I were Governor Ted, I guess I'd stand back and say "They were never willing to engage with us". What the hell is that?

I continue to be amazed with the arrogance of politicians who simply believe that businesses would be here simply because "We're (name your country, state, city)".

Governments have to compete just like all the companies in the private sector. It's a simple cost/benefit principle; what do we pay in taxes v. what do we receive in return in the form of services? Ohio has the built in disadvantage of climate but what exactly has the state done in the last 20 years, actually ever, to make themselves attractive to companies looking to relocate?

Now, the governor isn't to blame for a 120 year old company relocating unless he hasn't done anything during his time in office to make Ohio more attractive to businesses.

I don't think that blessing the state with Keno, the only thing he's done in office, qualifies.

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a tax lien seeking more than $800,000 from Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, escalating a dispute over payroll taxes that the lawmaker's office blames on faulty government paperwork.

The episode has left a candidate who fell just a few percentage points short of winning the White House trying to convince the government's tax collector that his campaign already paid the taxes and doesn't owe any more.

The IRS filed the lien in the District of Columbia earlier this year, claiming that a previous attempt to collect the money was unsuccessful. "We have made a demand for payment of this liability, but it remains unpaid," the tax filing stated.

The IRS is taking action more than a year after the campaign closed its books and sent nearly $200,000 in leftover presidential campaign money to Mr. Kerry's Senate election fund.

Last night, the lovely Mrs. Gekko wanted to watch the Biography on Freddie Mercury, the deceased front man of the band Queen.

I quit watching Biography a long time ago since I'm not big on watching celebrity bio's. None the less, I was a Queen fan so what the hell.

It was a poorly put together program all the way around. At one point, I told Mrs. Gekko I was going to count the number of times they showed Mercury wearing this one bathrobe costume (5 from the time I started counting).

But this was the kicker to whole show. This one clown claimed that big corporate radio stations run by George Bush backers quit playing Queen when Mercury came out.

Huh?

Freddie Mercury died in 1991. He came out in the late eighties. Even if you want to blame it on Bush Sr., how do you explain Judas Priest getting air play. Don't they have gay front man as well?

Could it be that Queen hadn't really done anything of substance for at least five years prior to Mercury's death?

I was so disgusted I decided to go to bed and watch the season finale of Law & Oder SVU only to see NBC news perform the equivalent of a news Lewinsky on Obama.

Geez guys, at least wipe the stuff off your face before you tell The One about that tingly thing up your leg.

Neighbors say the 3-year-old’s mother made the grisly discovery early Tuesday when she came to pick up her daughter. They said the 3-year-old girl was found dead on the floor and Washington was found holding her child.

No arrests have been made, said Lt. Mark Briede, spokesman for Cincinnati police. Homicide investigators are still talking with witnesses and persons of interest.

"I don't know who is a suspect at this point," he said. "I wouldn't call anyone a suspect at this point. Persons of interest, perhaps. They are less than 12 hours into the investigation so they are still following up on some leads."

Here's what I'm going to predict.

The scum bag who committed this crime should never have been on the streets. This is a person who probably has a rap sheet so long it could be rolled like toilet paper. A person who has a history of violence against society. And just who's responsible for making sure this wonderful Joe Doe wasn't behind bars.

If you haven't read the dust up about Playboy's list of conservative women you'd like to hate f&^k, read the piece at Hot Air here. Playboy ultimately decided that it was in bad taste and took it down from their site.

As advised by Jill a while back, I went to my feminist source, Bitch Magazine to read up on the feminist outrage over an article related to the raping of women. So far......... nothing.

On a related note, here's a piece on the 10 hottest liberal babes. To call these babes hot is quite a stretch. I'm guessing but I don't think it takes Einstein to figure out why nearly every one on the list is single (if these are the hottest, no wonder all the guys watch Fox News).

Do you remember the classic McDonald's burger the Mc DLT? The box it came in was in two parts, one for the hot side and one for the cold.

The ads went "keeping the hot side hot and the cool side cool".

That's what comes to mind when another business leaves the blue state of Ohio for the business friendly confines of red state Georgia.

NCR Corp. will move its corporate headquarters and 1,250 jobs to Duluth, Ga., from Dayton, an NCR source has told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“This is a big, big deal,” said the source, whom the Journal Constitution, a sister newspaper of the Dayton Daily News, did not name Monday night, June 1.

Word of the move came a few hours after Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, in a letter to NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti, offered NCR $31.1 million to continue its operations in Ohio. Full text of Ohio's offer

The source told the AJC the $31.1 million offer from Strickland was too late.

“We did not receive that offer until this evening... it pales in comparison to what Georgia is giving,” said the source.

I'm just guessing that it's not all about incentives. The big dogs at NCR can see a friendlier corporate tax structure in Georgia FOREVER (ie CAT tax). In addition, that's where the boys are; meaning that's where are smartest and brightest workers are heading.

Democrats...."making the blue states bluer and the red states redder."

Reader Bartman (Go Cubs?), with this speech given to his alma mater, Northwood University.

By almost any measure, the standards we as citizens practice ourselves and expect of those we parent, influence and elect have slipped badly in recent years. Simple courtesies are increasingly rare. Our celebrity-drenched culture focuses incessantly on the vapid and the irresponsible. What once was shunned as bad behavior is all too often flaunted today as a sign we're "doing our own thing." Our role models would make our grandparents cringe. To many, insisting on sterling character seems too straight-laced and old-fashioned. We cut corners and sacrifice character all the time for power, money, attention or other ephemeral gratifications. The terrible price we're paying for this disturbing erosion of character is reckoned in terms of theft and violence, family break-ups, scandals in business, unions and government, and numerous other ills.

You see this erosion of character when you turn on the evening news any night of the week: Political campaigns resorting to last-minute smears to win elections. Businessmen groveling before politicians, begging for a handout, refusing to speak truth to power by explaining the government's complicity in their troubles, in fear the money won't be approved. You even see it in the coarse and vulgar language people plaster on their car bumpers, or the obligations and responsibilities that so many freely walk away from when it becomes inconvenient to keep their word.

Character is ultimately more important than all the college degrees, public offices or even all the knowledge that one might accumulate in a lifetime. It puts a concrete floor under one's future or an iron ceiling over it. Who in their right mind would want to live in a world without it?

Liberty and free enterprise, which Americans ritually claim they cherish, depend entirely upon character. They cannot possibly survive without it. A people who will not govern and restrain themselves will sooner or later be governed and restrained by others.

Many traits define strong character. Among them are honesty, humility, responsibility, courage, self-discipline, self-reliance, optimism, a long-term focus and a lust for learning. A society that forsakes those virtues is bound for chaos, serfdom and extinction.

There are three items I keep a copy of in my glove box

1) a copy of the US Constitution2) Ronald Reagan's 1964 convention speech3) A Speech by P.J. O'Rourke to the Heritage Foundation

If you read any conservative blogs, you've surely read a condemnation or two on George tiller's murderer.

From NRO....

How about the service guys murdered for the sheer fact that they were American serviceman? Do you think you'll here any condemnation from the anti war left?This morning, a U.S. Army recruiting station was attacked. One recruiter was killed, another hurt. Any statements from the antiwar Left deploring that violence? I've seen none from Code Pink, which has called U.S. servicemen "war criminals" and worse in service of a "fascist dictatorship," and whose rhetoric has, in general, been comparable to that of the less temperate branches of the pro-life movement. If you want to check International ANSWER'S press statements, you'll find nothing deploring this violence.

This isn't the first attack on a recruiting station, and the antiwar Left has been open in calling for violence against members of the American military. It is right (or at least it seems so to me) that pro-lifers are expected to actively renounce the rhetoric and actions of those who share our position, broadly defined, but who employ unacceptable methods. Why the double standard for the antiwar crowd? Any bets on whether the New York Times op-ed page in the morning will even take note of the event?

The government effectively owns General Motors and controls Chrysler, and the president is deciding what kind of cars they can make. Uncle Sam owns majority stakes in American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and controls large chunks of the banking industry. Also, President Obama wants government to take over the business of student loans. And he's pushing for nationalized health care. Meanwhile, his Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that it reserves the right to regulate any economic activity that has a "carbon footprint." Just last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said climate change requires that "every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory." Rep. Barney Frank, chair of the Financial Services Committee, has his eye on regulating executive pay.

Of course, nationalization of industry is only one kind of socialism; another approach is to simply redistribute the nation's income as economic planners see fit. But wait, Obama believes in that, too. That's why he said during the campaign that he wants to "spread the wealth" and that's why he did exactly that when he got elected. (He spread the debt, too.)

And yet, for conservatives to suggest in any way, shape or form that there's something "socialistic" about any of this is the cause of knee-slapping hilarity for liberal pundits and bloggers everywhere.

From the great city of Cincinnati, who hasn't had a republican run the city since Bach was kicking out cool music (and not that Skid Row clown)......

Just one of 37 failing Cincinnati Public Schools in 2008 fired a tenured teacher for poor performance that year, according to a report out Monday.

In the past five years, CPS has fired only seven probationary teachers and two tenured teachers for performance reasons.

Those are two of the most striking highlights of a report published Monday by the New Teacher Project, a New York-based nonprofit that studies the profession.

"The Widget Effect" examined teacher evaluation processes in 12 school systems across Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois and Colorado, and panned all of them - saying the highly educated professionals are too often treated as interchangeable parts.

Most simply don't have evaluations that accurately assess teachers' work or help them improve, said Tim Daly, the group's president.

In all 12 districts, including Cincinnati, a majority of teachers received the highest rating possible in their last review.

"The primary use of evaluations in most districts is to identify incompetence," Daly said. "That means that the job of the evaluator is merely to say, 'Is this teacher so poor that they can't be in front of children?' And if that is not true, then typically there is not much more work done to distinguish levels of effectiveness above incompetence

According to the study, 57 percent of administrators and 43 percent of teachers in Akron, Toledo and Cincinnati schools said they personally know of a tenured teacher who is so inept that they should be fired, but are not.

What's most hilarious is that people who most want to condemn charter schools are more than happy to send those kids back to these schools.

A Johnston County case proves that crime doesn't pay – at least not much.

Rex Harold Smith, 54, of North O'Neil Street, was charged last week with obtaining property by false pretense and felony conspiracy. He was being held Monday in the Johnston County Jail under a $7,500 bond.

Authorities said Smith removed aluminum siding off the house he was renting near Clayton and sold it to a scrap metal recycler.

"I said, 'What did you do with the siding? Why did you take it off?'" said Phyllis Chalk, Smith's cousin and landlord. "He said, 'Well, I thought there might be termites under.'"

Chalk said she found large chunks of siding missing when she went to the house to evict Smith, who she said refused to pay her any rent. She said she had agreed to let him stay in the house for $100 a month because he was facing some tough times.

Stealing from a relative who's trying to help you out. Doesn't that make you a democrat by definition?

Now, last November, did Smith here vote for the hope and change candidacy of Barack Obama or four more years of George Bush?

Monday, June 01, 2009

More evidence that the Big Eleven is the most overrated sports conference in college sports......

In the middle of their historical rout of Ohio State at Dick Howser Stadium, ESPN networks and radio already were breaking in to their regularly scheduled programming to report the score. As hard as it was to believe, it wasn't a misprint. It wasn't a typo. It wasn't a mistake. The Florida State baseball team won 37-6.

"I never thought I'd see a game like this," said winning pitcher Mike McGee. "It was an eventful day. I don't know. It was crazy. I never thought I would play in something like that."

McGee went into the fifth inning with an unfathomable 32-0 lead.

"There's never been a lead like that, that I can remember," FSU coach Mike Martin said.

From the Golden Gate city of San Francisco, who hasn't had a republican run the city since Ponce de Leon found the fountain of youth........

There was a time when the "$100,000 club" referred to San Francisco city workers making six figures. These days, it refers to the 480 retired city workers or their survivors who are knocking back $100,000 or more a year in pension money.

At the top of the heap is former Police Chief Earl Sanderswho, after serving 40 years in the Police Department, gets an annual pension of $222,768.

Sanders' predecessor, former Chief Fred Lau, who retired after 31 years on the force, pulls down a $154,241 pension - even as he earns another six figures as head of security at Oakland International Airport.

Lau and Sanders are among 146 former city cops or their survivors in the $100,000 pension club. Both are also members of a more rarefied club - the 15 ex-cops pulling down pensions of $150,000 or more.

Over at the Fire Department, 246 former employees or their survivors are receiving pensions of $100,000 a year or more - with 15 topping $150,000.

The remaining 88 members of the $100,000 club are former department heads or career executives.

Soon, a new name will be atop the list of highest-paid police pensioners. When she leaves the Hall of Justice sometime this year, Police Chief Heather Fong, 53, will have 32 years under her belt - and will be pulling down about $229,500 a year for life.

From the Windy city of Chicago, who hasn't had a republican run the city since Moses parted the Red Sea.........

Chicago had seven shooting deaths in 24 hours this weekend, and police say they have no suspects in custody.

All seven victims were men in their 20s or 30s, and all were shot to death.

Want to know the difference between conservatives and "progressives"? When conservatives track down prosecute the killer of George Tiller, they will have him executed so he'll be unable to victimize another citizen.

When liberals find the people responsible for killing these seven people, they'll let them back on the streets to kill more.

Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands. No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. We are a nation of laws. Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence. Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished.

In keeping with my policy of never disclosing spree killer names, you won't see or hear the name of the douche bag who committed this crime here. No celebrity for a derelict.